ABSTRACT
The possibilities of FAB mass spectrometry to analyze the composition of the tropospheric cloud droplets are discussed. As a model for atmospheric water, aqueous solutions of sulfuric acid over a wide range of concentrations were used (10−1 ÷ 10−6 M). The parameters examined were: intensity of positive and negative ions sputtered from the working samples and their dependencies on (H2SO4) or pH measured in aqueous phase. A detection limits of (H2SO4)aq was ∼10−5 M (pH ≤ 5). The correlation observed between the mass spectra and thermodynamic properties of the solutions studied supports the applicability of the proposed approach to quantitative determination of sulfuric acid concentration encountered in atmospheric water.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported by grants from Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grants #00-05-64029 and 00-15-97291) and INTAS (grant #99-00647).